Dmitry Itskov Wants To Help You Live Forever Via an Android Avatar

trendspotter writes in with the latest news about the 2045 Project. "If Russian billionaire Dmitry Itskov has his way, the human lifespan will soon no longer depend on the limitations of the human body. Itskov, a Russian tycoon and former media mogul, is the founder of the 2045 Project — a venture that seeks to replace flesh-and-blood bodies with robotic avatars, each one uploaded with the contents of a human brain. The goal: to extend human lives by hundreds or thousands of years, if not indefinitely."

Comments

I agree with Lewis Black

[AbsoluteXyro]

Death is not a bug, it's a feature. It's the only way we get rid of old assholes.

Re:I agree with Lewis Black

[Intrepid imaginaut]

According to who? Will you be the judge of this worthiness? Have you figured out objective good and bad then? Marvellous.

I'm really growing weary of smug misanthropic assholes who quite comfortably apply negative attributes to billions of unique individuals to either excuse their own shortcomings or justify a vague sense of superiority. You know who's "worthy" to explore the universe and live forever? People who explore the universe and live forever.

Re:I agree with Lewis Black

[stenvar]

what fairytale are you living in? humanity is just as bad as it always has been.

What fairytale are you living in? Humanity has become much less violent, much more intelligent, and much more productive over the last few centuries.

developing genetic technology to eliminate negative human psychological traits (such as the seven sins) will create a much more cooperative and productive society to achieve goals like space exploration much more efficiently

What you call "the seven sins" has important biological and social functions. And competition and self-interest are as important as cooperation for progress. The kind of people you are trying to design would be less efficient than what we currently have.

but that also introduces the possibility that we aren't really fit at all if we are stupid enough to engineer ourselves with unintended consequences that ultimately lead to our premature extinction.

Indeed. And you just gave a splendid example of that, because the way you think of human evolution and enhancement is like the old eugenicists.

Re:Ok, but...

[bondiblueos9]

Perhaps your consciousness could be transferred into an electronic brain the same way it was transferred from your brain several years ago to your current brain: cell by cell. If you could design an electronic brain that was identical to a biological brain and could replace it piece by piece and continue to function in the same way, then presumably you would never notice the transition.